I just bought a generic one for around $15. Don't forget to buy a stand, because this mic doesn't come with one. I knew it was a good one because it has a sticker right on it that says 'Ideal for Podcasting'! It gave me a big boost in audio quality and the price was right, it runs $89 at the time of the writing of this tutorial. After a few months I upgraded to the Samson C01U which is a USB mic.

When i first started podcasting, I used the headset mic I got in the box with IBM's Via Voice recording software. Many people ask what kind of microphone I use to record my Podcast.

If you can't afford a microphone at this time, you could even use a built in mic like on a laptop, but no matter what you must use headphones! If you don't wear headphones, you'll get feedback that will destroy your recording. Alternatively you can get a headset microphone that includes the head phones.

If you have a standing microphone, plug in some kind of headphones, even plain old earbuds will work. You must have headphones on when you're recording.

I'm not a big ol' audiophile, so I'm not going to tell you to go out and buy a big rig, but there is one piece of advice I will give you. Let's talk just a bit about microphones before we launch audacity.

Audacity software manual